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From: teach@tc.fluke.COM (Dick Beier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Help for choosing a laptop/portable
Keywords: 386sx 40MB VGA
Message-ID: <1990Mar13.134717.19807@tc.fluke.COM>
Date: 13 Mar 90 13:47:17 GMT
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 54


Okay!  I give up!

I just finished reading the great tome in the March 13th issue of PC Mag.
on high end laptops and portables.  Now I a really undecided!

Can anyone add credence or experience to what this article said?

I am looking for a replacement for my rusty old XT style clone (V20)
machine at home.  It's been a good machine for me.  I have no complaints
other than the keyboard which I replaced with a Northgate 101 about three
years ago.  However, it is equipped with only 640KB of RAM, two 40MB hard
disks and a couple of slow 360KB floppies.  The video is Herculese
compatable.  It still is a good machine for Word Processing, General data
base stuff and home accounting.  The problem is that my children (ages 14
to 6, all 6 of them) have discover games, and homework help (in that order)
and I have discovered that in my extensive travels for the company that I
can't be fully alive without a keyboard (i.e. my hand writing is s__t).  I
am also getting deeper and deeper into graphics, desktop publishing, heavy
spreadsheets, and telecommuting.  All this adds up to a real need for a
protable/laptop that is both rugged and powerful.

I am well aware of the volatility of the PC market at this time.  It
doesn't take a crystal ball to figure out that a bad decission now can cost
you plenty later.  Since I have a big family, I can't afford any of the
pitfalls.

I know that within a few years there will be vertually no software
available that will run on anything less than a fast 286 with a lot of
available RAM and Hard Disk.  I also believe that the 386sx is a ploy that
Intel is using to dump 16 bit chip sets befor comming out with a really
nice and reasonable 32 bit set.  There is no love lost between me and IBM,
in particular when it comes to MCA, but I love their keyboards.  I need a
lot of disk space now!  The programs I now use are heady and slow on the
old machine and my AT-339 at work is not much better.

So . . .  What do I do?  I am willing to go into debt to buy the best
bang for the buck I can get, but I cannot make a mistake by purchasing a
machine the is going to be history in five years.  Am I asking too much?
I'll listen to anybody with experience and a better crystal ball than mine.


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Vax4/usr2/teach			MS# 239-D			Ph: x5908
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Dick Beier . . . aka: Dicky-Poo . . . that's Mr. Poo to my enemies.  B-{)
-- 
vax4/usr2/teach			MS# 239-D			Ph: x5908
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Dick Beier . . . aka: Dicky-Poo . . . that's Mr. Poo to my enemies.  B-{)